!!! Overview
[{$pagename}] is a mapping of a [SAML] [protocol] message onto standard messaging formats and/or communications [protocols]. For example, the [SAML] [SOAP] [binding] specifies how a [SAML] message is encapsulated in a [SOAP] envelope, which itself is [bound|Binding] to an [HTTP] message.

!! [SAML] 1.1 [bindings]
SAML 1.1 specifies just one binding, the [SAML] [SOAP] [Binding]. In addition to SOAP, implicit in SAML 1.1 Web Browser SSO are the precursors of the HTTP POST Binding, the HTTP Redirect Binding, and the HTTP Artifact Binding. These are not defined explicitly, however, and are only used in conjunction with SAML 1.1 Web Browser SSO. The notion of [binding] is not fully developed until [SAML V2.0].

!! [SAML V2.0] bindings
SAML 2.0 completely separates the binding concept from the underlying profile. In fact, there is a brand new binding specification in SAML 2.0 that defines the following standalone bindings:
* SAML SOAP [Binding] (based on SOAP 1.1)
* Reverse [SOAP] (PAOS) [Binding]
* [HTTP Redirect|Redirection] (GET) [Binding]
* [HTTP POST][Binding]
* [HTTP] Artifact [Binding]
* [SAML] [URI] [Binding]

This reorganization provides tremendous flexibility: taking just Web Browser SSO alone as an example, a service provider can choose from four bindings (HTTP Redirect, HTTP POST and two flavors of HTTP Artifact), while the identity provider has three binding options (HTTP POST plus two forms of HTTP Artifact), for a total of twelve (12) possible deployments of the [SAML 2.0] Web [Browser] [SSO] Profile.

!! More Information
There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:
[{ReferringPagesPlugin before='*' after='\n' }]